Penn State wrestling: Plenty of thought goes into dealing with road trips

Surviving the rigors of five months of training, competing and managing weight, a college wrestling season is difficult enough. Weathering weekend road trips simply adds to the mystique of why wrestling just might not be for everyone.

But those who do and those who coach them strive to keep things on as much of a routine schedule as possible.

Penn State, for example, had a home match last Friday, left for Purdue Saturday, wrestled the Boilermakers on Sunday and returned home that night.

Next week, the top-ranked Nittany Lions wrestle at Iowa on Friday in what should be a highly competitive match, leave for Illinois on Saturday and face another strong team in the Illini on Sunday before returning to State College.

The following weekend is a little lighter on the travel budget as the Lions head to Pittsburgh on Feb. 8 and then trek to Columbus for a match with Ohio State on Feb. 10.

Travel plus weight management plus actual competition equals necessary coaching strategy. Penn State coach Cael Sanderson made it clear this week that while the travel isn’t a social event, it isn’t meant to take the wrestlers out of their daily routine, either.

“We’ll sleep in at Iowa (on Saturday) and get on a bus and go on over to Illinois,’’ Sanderson said. “It’s just like any other day. Travel and get to your location, and we work out the night before. Some guys work out twice.’’

Thus, on the Saturday off day, there’s no bowling or movies or fantasy forays into forkless fast-food fun.

“Not really,’’ Sanderson said about any extra effort to make out-of-town Saturdays anything than other than what they are.

“We try to work out late enough so there’s just enough time for them to get something to eat and go to sleep. It’s so it’s easier to get to sleep, especially with weight management. You don’t want them to keep their weight down longer than they need to.

“So that’s kind of how we time that.

“But we have a good time,’’ Sanderson said. “That’s kind of the key, making sure these guys are enjoying themselves, that it’s not boring for them and there’s something to look forward to.

“We try to make each day a little bit different so they don’t know what to expect,’’ Sanderson added. “And that goes on those weekends as well.’’

Come postseason tournament time, the team will have traveled enough to know that there isn’t much more in the line of adversity it hasn’t already faced.

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